


A Study in Cerulean

by Byrch



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 14:51:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5094770
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Byrch/pseuds/Byrch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything, everyone, occupies a space between washed out blinding white, and total blackness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Study in Cerulean

_Shirogane Naoto,_ wrote Kanji, on a cheap notepad braced against raised knees, _sees the world in black and white._ He took a moment, settling further back into the corner insofar as the broadness of his shoulders would allow. _I don’t mean in the sense of those old hardboiled noir films – although looking at her now, with a thin cigarillo in one hand, the haze of its smoke softening the hardness of her features – maybe so, to some degree. What I mean is-_

“You’re writing about me, again.” Her expression held all the measured impassivity of a routine interrogation. He did his best to match it.

“No I’m not.”

“You are. You keep looking at me like you’re trying to paint me. Kanji… We’ve had conversations about this. My work is confidential, and unsuitable for chronicling.”

Kanji said nothing, just continued to stare at her. She said nothing more, and after a few moments refocused on the screen before her.

 _What I mean is that to her, everything, everyone, occupies a space between washed out blinding white, and total blackness. She can’t comprehend either extreme… And what she can comprehend is always relative to those extremes._ He continued, gazing at her thoughtfully. As he watched, she leaned her chin on one raised palm, lifted the thin sheaf of rolled tobacco to her lips and drew. The lit end flared briefly, dully, as she rolled the smoke around her mouth. She never inhaled. Like all of her vices, it was a tool, a focusing ritual, rather than something done for its own sake. With lips slightly parted and eyes half-lidded, she let the trapped smoke escape her mouth. Kanji had to shake his head a little to refocus; Naoto’s lips may have been thin, but he found them exquisitely sensual. A slight lift at the corner of her mouth indicated that she’d seen him.

 _Naoto's greatest weakness is not her vices. Not the tobacco, not the drinking, not even her little toolbox of 'chemical helpers'._ "Confidential, huh. Does that mean you're back on a case?" Writing while holding a conversation was a skill that had taken him time to master, but one practised out of necessity. She often spoke as she moved; he theorised that when she stopped moving and was allowed to focus, the rate of her cogitation outran the limitations of her rate of speech. Her mouth tightened, briefly, and the remainder of the smoke was expelled in a thin stream. Her head didn't turn towards him, but her eyes flicked briefly in his direction.

"I am _always_ on a case," she returned snidely. A slight aggrandisement on her part. She always had work, but even to Kanji's uneducated eye it was mostly make-work or basic troubleshooting from Inaba P.D. In this job market, it was nothing to turn your nose up at - especially given her relative age and recorded experience - but she seemed to consider anything short of capital crimes beneath her. Needless to say, these days capital crimes were in fairly short supply in Inaba.

"So, what's this one? Murder? Racketeering? Widespread trafficking of hard narcotics?" He grinned at her, momentarily ceasing his writing. To his surprise she barked a short laugh.

"A tinge of sarcasm suits you," she said, actually turning to face him and smiling properly. "But no. A burglary. Looks like a basic break-and-enter except for the total lack of evidence left behind. It's quite interesting, actually..." She trailed off as she turned back to the monitor, and Kanji realised the monologue had continued, just not aloud.

 _Her greatness weakness is pride. If her Shadow were to re-manifest, it wouldn't waste time on fears or insecurities. Over the past few years, she's challenged herself. Driven herself. Divested herself of those anxieties. Changed. What's left is cold and hard and detached. What's left looks violence in the eyes and shrugs. Considers a burglary menial, beneath her. Shows she's losing that thin thread of human empathy._ He watched her frown deepen, slightly, as she worked through whatever freakish mandala represented the case in her mind.

_In her world of greys, I don't think even she knows where she belongs. And I think that one day she's going to stop seeing people... And start seeing just chalk outlines._

_Regardless of what she says, I think keeping a record helps her hold on to what she was, and keeps her from slipping too rapidly into what she's becoming. I think she's a good person, and she's done more for the world than either it or she will ever know, or recognise. And, end of the day?_

_Shirogane Naoto is worth saving._

_More than that - they're interesting stories._

_Want to hear a few?_


End file.
